Set your DVRs, Phoenix. Tempe-based designer Brandon Gore is about to make his national television debut.
The creative mind behind Hard Goods and Gore Design Co. is taking his knowledge of quality handmade furniture and applying it as a judge of Spike's newest reality series, Framework. Gore will host alongside Los Angeles-based industrial designer Nolen Niu and hip hop artist Common as 13 talented furniture builders go head to head for a chance to win $100,000 and sell their work on a national level.
See also: 100 Creatives - Brandon Gore
Gore, who says he had absolutely zero interest in being on television, was originally set to appear as a contestant in NBC's American Dream Makers, however once the show shifted its focus from craft to interior design, Gore serendipitously found himself being recruited for an affiliated network.
He jokes that he told producers at Spike that he would only participate in a show if he could act as a judge, and to his surprise, they agreed. These are the same producers behind such hit shows as Sci-Fi's Face Off and Spike's Ink Master.
Despite never seeking a role in television, Gore admits he is more than pleased with how everything turned out. "I've already seen some snippets of the first cut and it just blows your mind how good it is."
Gore credits the show's watch-worthy dynamic to several factors, namely, the maker movement and a program likeness to other hit shows like Lifetime's Project Runway.
"Project Runway is very successful because we all wear clothes and we all have opinions about clothes. . . Furniture is another one of those things. Furniture is something that every person in the U.S. is intimately familiar with and they all have opinions on. It seems like it's not that exciting in the sense of when you say 'Oh, furniture design,' but when you really think about it, everyone is an expert. I don't know why it took so long, but I think as far as subject matter goes, it hits all the bull points of what a successful show is, so it's interesting. The people on the show they're all very intriguing people. It hits the whole maker movement that's going on right now: people wanting to return to things made by hand, things made to last. It's kind of the perfect time for something like this."
Gore says that he hopes for a second season, but, like the rest of us, he'll have to wait and see how season one goes. Framework will premier on Spike at 10 p.m., 9 central, on Tuesday, January 6. For clips and bios of the shows cast, visit www.spike.com/framework.
